Womack wiggles on shutdown over Planned Parenthood money

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U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, in speaking Tuesday in Fort Smith, seems to come down on the side of not forcing a government shutdown when the Senate fails to endorse House-passed legislation to halt federal money for Planned Parenthood.

Or so I read between the lines of the Southwest Times Record article.

"We have a question that needs to be answered,” Womack said. “Do you fund government under a clean, continuing resolution knowing some of the money is going to flow to Planned Parenthood, or do you strip out funding for Planned Parenthood in your legislation, knowing it’ll be put back in in the Senate, or if not, the legislation will be vetoed by the president ultimately resulting in a shutdown of the federal government.”

Womack said that decision is difficult, but for the citizens of the United States, lawmakers will have to draw the line somewhere for the greater good — that greater good being a fully functioning federal government.

Womack, who supports the money cutoff, also was quoted as saying the argument was about no taxpayer funding for abortion, as well as simply opposition to some in Congress to being associated with Planned Parenthood in any fashion. Federal law already PROHIBITS taxpayer funding of abortion. Planned Parenthood gets no support for this except in rare cases of rape and mother lifesaving. The argument is about punishing a valuable medical provider because Republicans in Congress, such as Womack, disapprove of its legal activities.